'I didn't want to leave': hero policewoman speaks out

THE constable who sat with Madeleine Pulver for almost 10 hours, while what they thought was a bomb hung around the teenager's neck, said she never thought about leaving the girl's side.

Speaking to Channel 7's Today Tonight on Tuesday, Constable Karen Lowden said she found the situation surreal and there were moments when she thought about what would happen if the device around Madeleine's neck turned out to be live.

"I did think about my family for a little while there," Constable Lowden said.

"It [was] quite scary, what I was involved in. [But] I didn't feel like I could leave [her side], I didn't want to leave."